Indian National Congress

Some Indian economic commentators are praying that oldtime politician Pranab Mukherjee will contest the presidency in July.

This means he would have to give up the job of finance minister, making way for someone committed to reforms to smash bottlenecks and release the energies of the people to make India a great economic power.

For Indian's ruling Congress party, the recent election in the state of Uttar Pradesh was meant to mark the emergence of Rahul Gandhi as a 'real' politician, capable of pressing the flesh and connecting with the masses so brilliantly that he would silence detractors who scorned him as a lucky 'prince'.

The devastating defeat of India's ruling Congress party in elections not only in Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state, but also in Punjab and Goa, is obviously a body blow to the ambitions of Rahul Gandhi to take over as the country's next leader.

What was my old friend Dr Manmohan Singh thinking about? Is it time for him to step down as India's prime minister and take a well-earned retirement after 40 years of top-level public service? Should Singh and Sonia Gandhi's Congress Party coalition call elections in the hope that younger politicians with fresh ideas may take over?

The sight of a frail elderly man dressed in simple, though immaculately laundered, homespun clothes holding a protest fast in Delhi against government corruption evoked memories of Mohandas Gandhi, the esteemed Mahatma, and his epic struggle against the colonial rulers of India.

New Delhi at last has its proud defining modern monument at the very point of entry to India - a massive, sparkling new Terminal 3, which alone is the sixth-largest airport in the world. Remarkably, too, it was built on time, in three years, by a public-private partnership, and on a US$3 billion budget.

On Saturday evening, the skies over Delhi exploded with light and sound and fury, turning the night almost as bright as day. It was such a sustained din that you might have thought it was an attack from China or Pakistan, about which the Indian press has been fearfully speculating.

It is simply the greatest show on Earth; paint that in sky-high capital letters, every one a different colour of the rainbow to indicate the daring and the audacity of the hope and dreams that an Indian general election represents.

A high-profile lawyer in Shanghai has renewed his call for the central government to open its accounts ahead of the National People's Congress next month.

Yan Yiming, who early last month petitioned the Finance Ministry to release the country's expenditure for last year and budget plans for this year, repeated his request this week after the first call was rejected.

Rahul Gandhi is out to prove two things to two different groups: to the public, that he is a committed politician rather than just a lucky young man born with a famous last name; to the Congress party, that he can lead the troops into battle.